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Joe Raposo
Joe Raposo (February 8, 1937 - February 5, 1989) was a composer who wrote songs, score, background cues, and other music for Sesame Street and other Muppet projects. Raposo created some of the best known Muppet songs, notably "Bein' Green" and "C Is for Cookie," and helped establish the musical sound of Sesame Street. Many of his Sesame Street songs have since become popular standards covered by everyone from the Carpenters to Barbra Streisand, including "Bein' Green," "Sing," and "Somebody Come and Play." Background Joseph G. Raposo was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, of Brazilian Portuguese heritage. His father was a music teacher and conductor, but Raposo initially majored in law at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1958.Canemaker, John. The Animated Raggedy Ann & Andy. Bobbs-Merill, 1977. p. 81-87 He soon began performing as a jazz piano accompanist and then studied at L'Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris instead of going on to law school.Flint, Peter B. "Joseph G. Raposo Is Dead at 51; Helped to Create 'Sesame Street'." The New York Times. February 6, 1989 While still at Harvard, he conducted an out of town tryout for a Broadway show, with his first scored musical Sing Muse! opening in 1961. Raposo subsequently moved from Boston to New York where he provided dramatic underscoring for Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man, served as musical director of Truman Capote's House of Flowers (1968) and wrote incidental music for Jackie Mason's Broadway comedy A Teaspoon Every Four Hours (1969). It was Sesame Street that brought Raposo widespread fame, however. Work with Henson and Sesame Raposo first worked with Jim Henson on the special Hey Cinderella! (1969), for which he scored and wrote all of the songs. Raposo subsequently worked on Sesame Street, though he was chosen independently of Henson on the recommendation of producer/''Hey Cinderella!'' writer Jon StoneLesser, Gerald. Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street. Serving as musical director for the first five seasons, Raposo initially wrote material for all aspects of the show, including the instrumental theme for the live action Buddy and Jim skits, and only occasionally collaborating with staff writers such as Stone, Jerry Juhl, Daniel Wilcox, and Jeff Moss (who contributed heavily to the show's musical sound himself), among others. As Raposo recalled, Sesame Street "just came along. It didn't have a name. It was a bunch of people meandering around trying to do a show for Public Television." Most of his best known songs, however, soon fell into two groups: those written for Muppet segments and those for live action films, often sung by Raposo himself. Of the Muppet tunes, some were jaunty, whimsical exercises in education, as with Cookie Monster's anthem "C Is for Cookie" or "Would You Like to Buy an O?" Others were slower and more contemplative, expressing the innermost thoughts, fears and desires of the characters, as with "Imagination," "Nobody," and especially Kermit's classic lament "Bein' Green." Such introspection resulted from Raposo's songwriting methods, a process he called "psychological dress-up": Raposo's sound, often dominated by the piano over other instruments, was also a fixture of film inserts, usually played over footage of people or animals and performed by Raposo himself. As with the Muppets, Raposo's style as composer and singer varied in moods, from the comedic and even brash (adopting cartoonish voices for "What Do You Do With a Fruit?" or as the titular animal in "I'm an Aardvark)" to the melancholy ("Somebody Come and Play") or soothing mood pieces ("Everybody Sleeps"). One Raposo classic which fits in neither of the above two categories is "Sing," performed in many different contexts on the show, and later covered by a variety of popular artists. In fact, through his work on Sesame Street, Raposo deliberately set out to cross the forced boundaries between pop music and children's songs. Raposo continued to work with Henson on The Great Santa Claus Switch and The Frog Prince (both with lyrics by Juhl) and went on to serve as musical director and song writer for CTW's follow-up to Sesame Street, The Electric Company. Raposo left Sesame Street after 1974 (replaced by Sam Pottle as musical director) contributing only occasional material (such as new songs for Sesame Street Fever) and would not return full-time until Season 15 in 1983, working more often with other lyricists. During that interim, Raposo continued to collaborate with Henson, scoring the pilot The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (originating the "At the Dance" theme used on The Muppet Show) and both songs and score for The Great Muppet Caper, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for "The First Time It Happens." He also worked on The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show and composed and produced all songs for Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album. Fame and Later Work In 1970, "Bein' Green" was covered by Frank Sinatra, and as Raposo put it, "then I became famous." Sesame Street took a backseat for a time to a wide range of projects in film, TV, and theater, as well as writing original songs for Sinatra and other singers. While still staff musical director for CTW, Raposo worked on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1971) as musical arranger, supervisor, and composer of incidental music. Following his departure from Sesame in 1974, producer Richard Horner tapped Raposo to write all songs and score for the animated film Raggedy Ann and Andy (finally released in 1977). One song from the film, "Blue," was later used on The Muppet Show (performed by Helen Reddy, who also covered the song on albums). "Blue" and "Rag Dolly" were later recycled by Raposo for the 1986 Broadway show Raggedy Ann and Andy (with a substantially different plot and several new Raposo tunes). On a more adult level, Raposo scored Robert Altman's Academy Award-winning drama Nashville (1975, with Lily Tomlin and Cloris Leachman) and composed music (sans lyrics) for the Three's Company theme song as well as the instrumental theme for its spin-off The Ropers, among other projects. He returned to children's projects in the 1980s, collaborating with Theodor Geisel on two Dr. Seuss animated specials and writing the theme for Shining Time Station. In the theater world, Raposo collaborated with Sheldon Harnick (lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof) on the cantata Sutter's Gold (1980), and A Wonderful Life (1986), a musical adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life which was performed largely in colleges and made its Broadway debut as an Actor's Fund benefit in 2005. Legacy Raposo died from lymphoma in February 1989. He was survived by his wife Pat Collins and three sons. The special Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music, hosted and directed by Jon Stone, aired in memoriam. Three years later, a dedication CD was released commemorating his work on Sesame Street. In 2004, a short children's book about Raposo, A Boy and His Music, was written by Odete Amarelo and Gilda Arruda with illustrations by Josette Fernandes.[http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12951108 The Herald News "‘Sesame Street’ composer Raposo the subject of new children’s book" Kathleen Durand, 09/18/2004] Raposo's songs continue to be heard on Sesame Street on a frequent basis, and his name still appears in the credits for original songs. Compositions Sesame Street Image:Bigbirdabcdefghi.jpg|ABC-DEF-GHI Image:Ladysmithblackmambazo.jpg|African Alphabet Song Image:bisforbubble.jpg|B is for Bubble Image:Caseymcphee.jpg|The Ballad of Casey McPhee Image:Character.bats.jpg|The Batty Bat Image:2356-6.jpg|Bein' a Pig Image:Beingreen1969.jpg|Bein' Green Image:YouLP.jpg|Believe in Yourself Image:Cisforcookie.jpg|C is for Cookie Image:Whichcomesfirst.jpg|Chicken or the Egg Image:Clinkclank.jpg|Clink, Clank Image:FurlineHuskie.JPG|Comb Your Face Image:Discofrog-muppetshow.jpg|Disco Frog Image:Song.doggypaddle.jpg|Doggy Paddle Image:Song.pigeon.jpg|Doin' the Pigeon Image:Bob.Dontyouknow.single.jpg|Don't You Know You're Beautiful? Image:2096d.jpg|Dressed Up Image:Song.EverybodyEats.jpg|Everybody Eats Image:Everybodysleeps.jpg|Everybody Sleeps Image:Everybodywash.jpg|Everybody Wash Image:CC1970Feelings.jpg|A Face Image:Song.Family.jpg|A Family Image:Mahnasesame2.jpg|Fat Cat Image:FeverLP.jpg|Fever Image:Song.FourFurryFriends.jpg|Four Furry Friends Image:Song.frogstruggle.jpg|Frog Struggle Song Image:SSGardenSong.jpg|The Garden Image:666a.jpg|Go Ahead and Touch Image:Vegetables.jpg|Grow High Grow Low Image:Seenmydog.jpg|Has Anybody Seen My Dog? Image:Song.hippopotamusround.jpg|Hippopotamus Round Image:Song.HeeHeeHaHa.jpg|Hee Hee Ha Ha Image:BigBirdSingsLP.jpg|How Do I Know? Image:HorneGrover536.jpg|How Do You Do? Image:SSBeinGreen.jpg|I Am Blue Image:Song.ilikealaska.jpg|I Like Alaska Image:Istandup.jpg|I Stand Up Straight and Tall Image:2682q.jpg|I'm a Real Cowboy Image:Aardvark edited.JPG|I'm an Aardvark Image:Album.joerapososesame.jpg|I'm Pretty Image:3976zm.jpg|Imagination Image:Song.indianbabybath.jpg|Indian Baby Bath Image:Song.itsalive.jpg|It's Alive Image:Ivegottwo.jpg|I've Got Two Image:Jumpingfilm.jpg|J Jump Image:Song.kangarooblues.jpg|Kangaroo Blues Image:Title.newsflash.jpg|Kermit News Theme Image:Song.WhatAreKidsCalled.jpg|Kids Image:Linoleum.jpg|La, La, La Image:Album.earthlings.jpg|Let's Make a Dream Image:Song.LittleBit02.jpg|A Little Bit Image:Ernieplant.jpg|Little Plant Image:Littlethings orig.jpg|Little Things Image:Song.Lookatthis01.jpg|Look at This Image:CTW1977HighMiddleLowLoudSoft.jpg|Loud and Soft Image:Ooohlookatthemarmoset.jpeg|Marmoset Image:Meyosong.jpg|Me (aka "Me and Yo") Image:Melostmecookie.jpg|Me Lost Me Cookie Image:1186h.jpg|My Little Game Image:WLovers.jpg|The National Association of "W" Lovers Image:Rosie.elmo.jpg|Nearly Missed Image:Song.newlife.jpg|New Life Image:3154s.jpg|A New Way to Walk Image:Dointhesnufflesingle.jpg|Nobody Image:Baker.jpg|Number Song Series Image:Susanthesethings.jpg|One of These Things Image:Song.OppositeStuff.jpg‎|Opposite Stuff Image:Bsandwich.jpg|Oscar's B Sandwich Image:Under.jpg|Over, Under, Around and Through Image:Single.havinfun.jpg|Pat Pat Patty Pat Image:3978f.jpg|Penguins Five Image:SS2BookandRecord.jpg|Picture a World Image:2096i.jpg|Peanut Butter Image:Song.prettybaby.jpg|Pretty Baby Image:Me and My Apple Tree.jpg|Quiet Time Song Image:Song.Rainfalls.jpg|Rain Falls Image:Readersoftheopenrange.jpg|Readers of the Open Range Image:SSRubYourTummySingle.jpg|Rub Your Tummy Image:CTW1976SingNameOfSong.jpg|Sing Image:sss-i.jpg|Sing Your Synonyms Image:Song.slothsleepy.jpg|Sloth Sleepy Image:Somebodycomeandplay.jpg|Somebody Come and Play Image:Sesamesongbook-back.jpg|Someone Nice Image:Bertsblockbusters.jpg|Stop! Image:1092-23.jpg|Take a Breath Image:There's a Bird on Me!.JPG|There's a Bird on Me Image:Song.touch-hold-feel.jpg|Touch, Hold, Feel Image:FeverTrash.jpg|Trash Image:Song.trying.jpg|Trying Song Image:CTW1976TuMeGustas.jpg|Tu Me Gustas Image:1091-21.jpg|Two is You and Me Image:ULecture.jpg|U Lecture Image:WaterBaby.jpg‎|Water Baby Image:WeaverBird.jpg|Weaver Bird Image:Song.whatbabiesarecalled.jpg|What Babies Are Called Image:noimage.png|What Do You Do With a Pet? Image:LiveLP.jpg|What Can I Do? Image:Song.dowithafruit.jpg|What Do You Do With a Fruit? Image:WhoYouLookinAtTiger.jpg|Who You Lookin' At Tiger? Image:Buyano.jpg|Would You Like to Buy an O? Image:Xmarksthespot.jpg|X Marks the Spot! Image:3956n.jpg|You Say Hola and I Say Hola Image:YoureMyBaby.jpg|You're My Baby Image:ZizzyZoomers.jpg|The Zizzy Zoomers Muppet Projects * Hey Cinderella! (music and lyrics) * The Great Santa Claus Switch (composer and conductor, no lyrics) * The Frog Prince (composer and conductor, no lyrics) * Out to Lunch (music and lyrics) * The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (score and songs) * The Great Muppet Caper (score and songs) * The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show (arranger, conductor, all original songs and cues) * Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album (music, lyrics, and album producer) Sources External links *IMDb *Lortel Off-Broadway credits Raposo, Joe